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Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Time to examine Jenni Rivera’s financial records

In a press
release from Mexico’s Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT), a
spokesperson for Starwood Management LLC , the company that owned of the plane
in which Jenni Rivera died, has said that the flight was for “promotional
purposes”, as she intended to purchase it.

In an interview with the LA
Times, Christian Eduardo Esquino Nuñez, 50, described himself as the “operations
manager” of Starwood Management. In fact, Esquino Nuñez is the de facto owner of Starwood: the company
is in his sister-in-law Norma Cruz de la Cruz’s name.

The passengers before take-off

This is a necessity as Mr. Esquino Nuñez has a criminal
record in the United States. He was indicted in 1993 for drug smuggling in
Florida, and was also convicted of aircraft fraud in 2005 after doctoring
logbooks for six Mexican planes that he later sold in the United States.

Both the pilot Miguel Pérez Soto and his co-pilot Alejandro
Torres were licensed to fly in Mexico. However,
according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the 78-year-old Pérez
Soto was not licensed in the United States to carry passengers on a commercial
flight. As well, Mr. Pérez Soto’s U.S. license was restricted to visual flight
rules only. That said, the flight was within Mexico: it took off in clear skies at around 3:30 a.m.
from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, en route to Toluca, west of Mexico City, and
crashed about 15 minutes later.

La politica is
familiar with previous transactions involving Starwood Management. In those
examples, Esquino Nuñez has presented himself as the functional owner/operator
of the company, and required payment up front.

Due to Mr. Esquino Nuñez’s criminal past, and his good
relations with the Mexican authorities – they are, after all, putting out press
releases supporting Starwood’s version of events – it is unlikely that an
investigation would have an easy time uncovering a paper trail on his end.

However, the Rivera family could examine Jenni Rivera’s financial
records to see if she had paid for the flight, as Esquino Nuñez would not have
let her fly for free if she had no intention of purchasing the aircraft.

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In the podcast Notes From The Underground TE Wilson discusses historical and contemporary attitudes toward crime. Each episode features a one-on-one interview that explores a unique topic. Interviewees include authors, experts, and individuals with personal experiences of crime. These podcasts were originally broadcast through the facilities of Trent Radio in Peterborough, Canada.

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